The Maple Drawing Room
'The Maple Drawing Room' When the newly-annointed Tsar Nicholas II married Prinzessin Alix von Hessen und bei Rhein, they decided on the Alexander Palace as one of their residence, as they found it to be the most beautifully-scuplted and built, and most charming of the Imperial residences. In 1905, this became their primary residence following the horrific events of Bloody Sunday, in the Palace Square at the Winter Palace, in the Capital (Sankt. Petersbourg). In 1902 - 1903, a very large renovation and re-decorating began. Before 1902, there was once a massive, and cavernous Concert Hall/Ball Room separated by a open colonnade. It sat right in between the East Wing, and was two-stories in height. It was built and decorated in the Neo-Classical style, which was the dominate style of architecture and interior design of the Alexander Palace. Decorators, and designers tried as they may to preserve this space as best as they could. They tried to go around it with different designs and decorated rooms, in some-way to preserve the masterpiece of the Concert Hall, which was designed by Quarenghi. But in the end, the entire Concert Hall was demolished, it's marble was used to decorate the Ground Floor corridor's walls. The Empress wanted more room for her growing family, and she decided on the demolishing of the Concert Hall, though the Emperor did not want to see this space demolished, they both saw no other alternative. Two cavernous interiors were built, and decorated in the former Concert Hall's place. These two large spaces were built in the then-emerging Art Nouveau-style, which the Empress herself particularly loved. The Emperor disliked the more extreme tones, and decorations of it, as he prefered his personal spaces and private appointments to be of simpler decorations, etc... Their Private Suites showed this difference greatly. The fifth in-line that became part of Her Imperial Majesty's Private Suite became known as the Maple Drawing Room. It was built in the eastern-half of the former Concert Hall, while the other space which was built in the Emperor's Private enfilade, was christened as the New Study, of which the Tsar used as his Formal Study during his tenure as Emperor of Imperial Russia. By far, these two spaces were the most strikingly modern (for their time) interiors ever devised, and built in a private home, and on such a grand scale. The Empress' Maple Drawing Room owed it's name to the extremely lavish, and unique use of a special variety of Maple-wood, which was used on many of the furnishings, a uniquely-designed Maple-wood cabinet and kosy-korner, and a great balcony that sailed across the back of the room. The Maple-wood used for the Empress' Maple Drawing Room was highly polished. It took on the appearance of a lusterous dull-gold hue. Meltzer custom-designed many pieces for this room, including the whole suite of Maple-wood furniture which was very modern looking, but still elegant enough to be featured in an Imperial Palace. The Maple Drawing Room was highly unique as it used appliances and had architectural details way ahead of it's own time and period. For instance, the walls of the room went high up and then curved inward creating a pleasant coving affect. The highest of this coved wall went over the balcony, and over the large window and a door which had access to the Mezzanine and Emperor's New Study. In the uniquely-carved ceiling and cornice lay pieces of inset glass in a green colour, and light would shine through these pieces of glass emitting soft in-direct lighting which was something very modern for the times in which this space had been created. Another very unique creation was designed especially for this space by the Court Decorator, Meltzer. It sat at the right-hand corner of the cavernous room, in the form of a round kosy-korner sofa, built-in to the walls with Maple-wood paneling, and the most beautiful center-piece being the Maple-wood cabinet which held some of Her Imperial Majesty's Fabergé Easter eggs. There were an assortment of porcelain and glass objet d'arts, bronze and gilded pieces, and many Fabergé pieces as well. The high walls were painted in a cheerful and warm, dusty pink, and then were magnificently set off with skillfully sculpted German cabbage roses, which were made from plaster, painted white and twined themselves across the room's walls and wrapped around the coved-ceiling, and entwined themselves about a large pale-green circle in the high ceiling. A luxurious grey-green carpet covered every inch of the room's large floor, and was English and sewn in strips. There were several or so area rugs and smaller rugs around the room including some large Polar-bear skin rugs. Another of the unique renovations of the former Concert Hall was the construction of a low- Mezzanine floor. This floor can be seen on Schematics and plans of the Alexander Palace. The Mezzanine included the Balcony levels of the Maple Drawing Room, and New Study as well as wardrobes, work rooms for the maids, and what have you. Where the Maple Drawing Room, and New Study sat ran the now un-obstructed Ground Floor corridor. At the length where the Emperor's Balcony level started the ceiling lowered significantly. Another unique design was the construction of a great, curved Maple-wood balcony with skillfully-duplicated cabbage roses like the one's that entwined themselves across the walls and up towards the ceiling. These cabbage roses were also duplicated magnificently on the balcony's supports and column capitals. In-laid glass panels filled the upper-tier of the balcony's balustrade. A highly-polished stair with Maple-wood carvings ascended up to this balcony, which was a place where the Empress could knit or write, while her children played with their toys, and the like. The Empress' Maple-wood balcony had direct access via a small door on the west-wall of the room which opened up into the Emperor's New Study. Below the Mezzanine balcony were two kosy-korners. One was on a raised plat-form and served as the Empress' side where a custom-built daybed was designed for her and placed here, amongst sweet-smelling lilacs and profusions of foliage. The Maple Drawing Room was filled year-round with flowers, as were most of the rooms of the Alexander Palace. On the other side was a built-in high-backed sofa with shelving both Ground Floor and Mezzanine had high wainscoting in Maple-wood in these two areas, and surrounding the ceramic tiled fireplace. This space had four very tall, curved windows, which were hung in rich draperies, with goldish hued floral patterns. A portiere hung over the entrance doors to the Palisander Drawing Room in the same shiny material. The other entrance was a Maple-wood paneled Arched double-door which gave access into the East Wing's Ground Floor corridor. These doors had a beautiful coloured-glass transom in-between the arch and doors. It was tiffany, as were small lamps that hung from the low-ceiling under the balcony. All of the furniture was upholstered in a pale goldish hued satin, with a floral pattern throughout the material. This constrasted nicely with the warm feel of the room, and the dull-gold shine of the lusterous Maple-wood furniture, and paneling throughout the space. This room also housed many artworks, including statuary. Several of these artworks were portraits done by the artist Kaulbach of the Empress' daughters; Grand Duchesses Olga-Tatiana-Maria-Anastasia. There was also a portrait done of the Empress' only son; Tsesarevich Alexei, and an early portrait of her beloved husband; Tsar Nicholas II in naval uniform. The Kaulbach portraits followed the Empress and her family when they departed the Alexander Palace for the very last time, and went into exile. Huge planters of lilacs, lillies of the valley and other sweet-smelling flowers were abudant throughout the room, etc... in the window directly near the double-doors to the Palisander Drawing Room was a door to a wrough-iron balcony with a large canopy that wrapped around the corner of the East Wing, and had stairs to the Imperial Park. This balcony had ample space for sitting areas, and the Imperial Family took make fotographs out on this balcony which was built by Danini in 1895. Heavy draperies in a Greek fret pattern hung between the balcony's columns so as to shield the Empress and her family from bad weather, and the heat and cold. On the 1st of August, in 1917 the former Empress, and her beloved children and husband left the Alexander Palace for the very last time, after having been under house-arrest there since the Emperor had been forced to abdicate and sign-away his rights completely over to the power-hungry After the family's departure from their beloved home, the Alexander Palace not long after became a museum honouring the last Romanovs. Spaces, such as the Maple Drawing Room, and the like were kept as close as humanely possible as it was left by the Imperial Family when they had departed. This museum operated right up until the beginning of the Second World War. During the duration of World War II, the Palace was damaged and ruined though ironically out of all the former Imperial residences, the best-preserved with little or no damage. It is a miracle to say that the Maple Drawing Room was one of these unscathed rooms, with little or no damage. Having fled prior to the Nazi German occupation of Tsarskoe Selo, the museum's curators and workers came back and surveyed the damage inflicted to the buildings. When it was realised the Alexander Palace sustained miraculously little to no damage, the Palace was made into a depository of sorts for the returning of artworks, and valuable furniture pieces, what have you which belonged to the Alexander Palace, and were coming all over from the burnt-out hulking remains of the larger grandoise Imperial residences, such as the Catherine, Peterhof, Winter, Pavlovsk, Gatchina, Palaces. At this period there was talk and plans of re-storing the Alexander Palace to it's full glory as it was when the Imperial Family had left it. Josef Stalin, then the dictatorial leader of the Soviet Union decided negatively on this future prospect as he wished no one in Russia to recognise the fallen Romanov Dynasty, especially the last Emperor, his wife and children. At his behest, the Alexander Palace's remaining interiors including the infamous Maple Drawing Room were ruthlessly destroyed, leaving no trace of what was once there. The Palace was made into a generic Russian museum, and the Maple Drawing Room had suffered greatly, when the Soviets who voiced the opinion of Art Nouveau not being historically-significant and too decadent for research and preservation. The entire space was demolished, and a paritioned wall was built into the middle of what once was a very large room. Today, no sign of the luxurious Maple-wood kosy-korner, nor the great balcony with curved paneling and in-laid glass panels exists. The space itself is split into two smaller rooms, one showcasing a back-drop of the former Maple Drawing Room with period furniture, and some original pieces from the room to give the feel of what once was a beautiful jewel in the name of Jugendstil. The other room showcases clothing, movie-prop furniture and some real originals that were part of the Children's Floor on the Second Floor above, where the Empress' five children slept, had lessons and the like. The Maple Drawing Room, as it appears today The former Maple Drawing Room (1) .jpg|The corner where the former uniquely-designed kosy-korner once stood. The former Maple Drawing Room (2) .jpg|A back-drop of the former Maple Drawing Room gives a very haunting contrast to actual room as it appears today. (The wall this back-drop is on is not original to the room at all, it was built during Stalin's rule as Dictator of the Soviet Empire) The former Maple Drawing Room .jpg|Period-furniture and a lone Polar-bear skin rug, along with some statuary give a feel of what once was. Second half of the Maple Drawing Room..... (1) jpg.jpg|Movie-props and original pieces that were part of the Children's Floor, where the children of Tsar Nicholas II, and Empress Alexandra had their bedrooms, and apartments. Second half of the Maple Drawing Room..... (2) jpg.jpg|A Black-board sits against the recently-built wall (During the Soviet Era) along with wardrobes of Tsesarevich Alexei's clothing. Second half of the Maple Drawing Room..... (5) jpg.jpg|A simple kosy-korner sofa, privacy screen decorated in floral patterns and a Kiosk with ikons is all that is left of the Children's suite (Movie-props or originals...)